CVE-2026-47568 in GPU Display Driver
Summary
by MITRE • 09/30/2026
NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Linux contains a vulnerability in the kernel mode layer where a user could cause uncontrolled kernel log generation by repeatedly invoking an interface that emits unrate-limited error messages. A successful exploit of this vulnerability might lead to denial of service.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/30/2026
The identified security flaw resides within the NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Linux, specifically targeting the kernel mode layer which operates with high privileges and direct access to hardware resources. This architectural position is critical for system stability but also presents a significant attack surface if input validation or resource management controls are insufficient. The vulnerability manifests as an uncontrolled generation of kernel log messages triggered by repeated invocations of a specific driver interface. Unlike standard error handling mechanisms that typically include rate-limiting or throttling to prevent excessive output, this particular code path lacks such safeguards. Consequently, when an attacker repeatedly calls the affected function, the system is forced to generate and process a continuous stream of diagnostic information without any pause or limit.
From a technical perspective, this behavior constitutes a resource exhaustion vulnerability that directly impacts system availability. The kernel logging subsystem consumes CPU cycles for formatting messages and writing them to log buffers, while also potentially triggering disk I/O operations if logs are being persisted to storage media. In severe cases, the rapid consumption of memory resources allocated for buffer management can lead to out-of-memory conditions within the kernel space. This uncontrolled growth in system load does not necessarily compromise data integrity or allow for privilege escalation but creates a sustained state of high resource utilization that degrades overall system performance and responsiveness. The operational impact is primarily characterized by denial of service, where legitimate users are unable to interact with the GPU-accelerated applications or the operating system itself due to excessive latency or complete unresponsiveness caused by the kernel being overwhelmed by log generation tasks.
This vulnerability aligns closely with Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) category CWE-400, which describes Uncontrolled Resource Consumption. It also relates to CWE-770, Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling, as the driver fails to impose constraints on how many times a resource-intensive operation can be executed in a short timeframe. In terms of adversary tactics and techniques, this scenario maps to MITRE ATT&CK technique T1496, Resource Hijacking, where an attacker uses computing resources for their own purposes or causes disruption by exhausting system capacity. While the primary intent here is denial of service rather than cryptomining or other resource theft, the mechanism of exploiting unthrottled operations to degrade performance fits this classification within the broader context of availability attacks against infrastructure components.
Mitigation strategies must focus on both immediate remediation and long-term architectural improvements. The most effective solution involves applying vendor-provided patches that update the NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Linux to a version where rate-limiting logic has been implemented in the kernel mode layer. This ensures that repeated invocations of the vulnerable interface are throttled, preventing the exponential growth of log entries. In environments where patching is not immediately feasible, administrators can implement operational mitigations such as configuring system-level logging daemons like rsyslog or systemd-journald to drop messages from specific sources or limit their volume. Additionally, restricting access to the affected driver interfaces through file permissions and user group policies can reduce the attack surface by ensuring that only trusted processes with appropriate privileges can invoke these functions. Regular monitoring of kernel log volumes and system resource usage metrics should also be established to detect anomalous spikes indicative of such exploitation attempts early in their lifecycle.